Philomath claims title in Clarke Cochrane tourney

Southeast sports roundup

Posted: Wednesday, January 12, 2000

By Compiled by CHARLES BINGHAMTHE JUNEAU EMPIRE

The Philomath (Ore.) Warriors scored from long distance early and in the paint late to take the 1999 Clarke Cochrane Christmas Classic championship Dec. 30 with a convincing 63-48 victory over the Middleton (Idaho) Vikings in Ketchikan.

Led by the 3-point shooting of Logan Garvin (14 points) and Matt Simonson (15), and the inside play of center Brad Baldwin (14), the Warriors jumped out to a 38-18 halftime lead and cruised to the title. Billy Yeager scored 19 points to lead Middleton, with Brian Graham chipping in eight points.

``This is great,'' said Philomath coach Dave Garvin, whose team improved to 8-0 with the victory. ``I've been coaching for 24 years and been to a lot of tournaments. This is by far one of the best. I'll look to come back as soon as we can.''

The tournament-host Ketchikan Kings claimed third place in the tournament with a 65-55 victory over the Metlakatla Chiefs in the third-fifth place game. Ketchikan's only loss in the tournament was 72-61 to Philomath in the semifinals.

After hitting halftime tied at 30-30, Ketchikan took the lead for good early in the third quarter. Center Tom Byron caught an inbounds pass and banked in a short jumper to give Ketchikan a 36-34 lead, then Metlakatla turned the ball over and Alexis Pahang drove the length of the court for a lay-up. Another Metlakatla turnover led to an 18-foot jumper by Jesse Richardson, and Ketchikan led by six points.

Byron scored 15 points to lead Ketchikan (4-1 after the tournament, now 6-2), while Pahang scored nine points and Richardson chipped in eight. Donovan Marsden scored 19 of his game-high 22 points in the first half to lead Metlakatla, while Anthony Gogert scored 12 and Chevy Hayward added 11 for the Chiefs, who took fifth place in the tourney.

Prince Rupert, British Columbia, edged New Westminster, British Columbia, 76-73 in the fourth-sixth place game. In the seventh-eighth place game, Caledonia (Terrace, British Columbia) blitzed Western Suburbs (Melbourne, Australia) 68-24.

In earlier tournament games, Philomath beat Ketchikan 72-61 and Middleton knocked off Metlakatla 74-53 in the semifinals, while New Westminster claimed a 60-50 victory over Caledonia and Prince Rupert beat Western Suburbs 85-66 in the consolation bracket. The first round saw Ketchikan beat Caledonia 57-43, Metlakatla needed two overtimes to beat Prince Rupert 89-80, Philomath top New Westminster 75-42 and Middleton bear Western Suburbs 52-33.

Jerry BlairKetchikan Daily News

Gig Harbor wins Lady Kings tourney

Defense and missed opportunities decided the 1999 Lady Kings Invitational championship game Dec. 22 in Ketchikan between the girls of Gig Harbor, Wash., and Eltham of Melbourne, Australia.

Gig Harbor had enough of the former and not too many of the latter as the Tides held off the Wildcats 41-29 to win the tournament crown.

The Tides did a good job early of rebounding the ball and preventing Eltham from getting easy baskets inside. Unable to work effectively in the paint, the Australians went to the outside, launching several long-range 3pointers in the second quarter. For the most part, however, the Wildcats failed to hit the mark.

The tournament-host Ketchikan Kings took third place by knocking off Cascade (Turner, Ore.) 55-33 in the third-fifth place game.

Ketchikan (5-1 after the tournament, now 8-1) shook off a ragged first few minutes of the game to take a 15-2 lead over the Cougars at the end of the first quarter, a lead that grew to 34-11 at halftime. The Lady Kings used a pressure defense that forced Cascade into frequent turnovers.

Mary Scudero scored 19 points to lead Ketchikan, while Kelly Nausid added 12 points and Amanda Kolanko had 10. Lindsay Bachellor scored nine points to lead the Cougars, who took fifth place.

In other final-round games, the Anchorage Christian Schools Lions claimed fourth place with a 69-27 victory over Caledonia (Terrace, British Columbia), while the Metlakatla Miss Chiefs took seventh place with a 76-45 victory over Charles Hays (Prince Rupert, British Columbia) behind 17 points from Darcel Williams and 16 from Trudy Horne.

The Haines boys and Haines girls basketball teams posted perfect 3-0 records to claim the titles of the Skagway Small Schools Tournament Jan. 6-8 in Skagway.

The Glacier Bear boys knocked off Skagway's varsity 74-56, beat Tok 90-41 and also claimed a 63-54 victory over a team from F.H. Collins School in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. The Skagway JV team went 2-0 with victories over Anderson (52-48) and the Haines JV (52-44).

F.H. Collins posted a 2-1 record in the boys tournament, with victories over the Skagway varsity (58-48) and Anderson (68-37) besides its loss to Haines. Anderson, Tok and Skagway's varsity all went 1-2, while the Haines JV boys were 0-3 for the tourney. In other scores not already mentioned, Skagway's varsity beat Tok 61-49, Anderson edged the Haines JV 45-42 and Tok beat the Haines JV 56-45.

The Haines girls swept to victories over Vanier Christian School of Whitehorse (44-32), F.H. Collins (41-23) and Skagway (51-40) to win their title.

Anderson and Tok both posted 2-1 records to tie for second place in the tournament. Anderson beat Vanier 53-44 and Skagway 35-25, but lost to F.H. Collins 47-44. Tok beat Skagway 45-38 and F.H. Collins 38-17, but lost to Vanier 38-32. F.H. Collins and Vanier both went 1-2 for the tournament, while Skagway was 0-3.

Juneau Empire staff

Gibb wins Petersburg's state champion swim-off

The Petersburg Vikings have one of the smallest high school swimming programs in Alaska, but the program has produced the last three state champions in the 50-yard freestyle.

On Dec. 23, those three current and former state champions met at Petersburg's pool to decide who was the fastest.

Derek Gibb, who won the title two years ago and is now a freshman swimming for Golden West Community College in California, posted a time of 21.53 seconds to win the swim-off. Gibb, who won the state titles in the 100 freestyle and the 100 backstroke last year, posted the fastest 50 free time ever recorded at the Petersburg pool, plus he qualified for Junior Nationals with the time.

Ty Westre, who won last year's state title in the 50 free and is now a freshman swimming for Western Illinois University (coached by former Petersburg coach Jerry Champer), took second place in 23.47 seconds. Derek Carlson, who won this year's state title and is a senior at Petersburg, was third in 23.67 seconds.

All three swimmers combined with Tony McKay last year to win the 200-yard medley relay with the 30th fastest time posted in the country, good enough for the first all-American honors in Petersburg's history. Gibb also earned all-American honors for his state-record setting 100 free time at last year's state meet.

Brian F. JohnsonThe Petersburg Pilot

Lathrop undefeated in Ketchikan wrestling tourney

Lathrop High School of Fairbanks won all eight of its dual meets Friday and Saturday to claim the title in the 2000 Bill Weiss Great Alaska Challenge wrestling tournament in Ketchikan.

Service High School of Anchorage, the state's second-ranked team, took second place and Colorado Class 4A state champion Alamosa took third place in the nine-team tournament.

Juneau-Douglas placed the highest of the three Southeast schools, taking fourth place which included a 41-26 victory over sixthplace Ketchikan. Rounding out the field were West Valley of Fairbanks in fifth place, topranked Chugiak (which didn't bring eight of its varsity wrestlers to the meet) in seventh, Sitka in eighth and Upper Lake (Calif.) in ninth place.

Pat Walsh of Alamosa, a 130-pounder who is two-time defending state champion in Colorado, was named the tourney's outstanding wrestler for the 103- to 140-pound weight classes. Ketchikan's Matt Hamilton, who was undefeated at heavyweight, won the outstanding wrestler award for the 145- to 275-pound weight classes.

Before the tournament began, Ketchikan claimed a 42-33 dual meet victory over West Valley.

Jerry BlairKetchikan Daily News

Skagway resident celebrates the New Year

Grant Moore of Skagway donned a wetsuit so he could spend New Year's Day water skiing on Chilkoot Lake.

Moore planned to ski at the Small Boat Harbor, but scratched due to rough seas. He plans to make the New Year's Day water ski a New Year's Day tradition.

Chilkat Valley News

The Juneau Empire's Southeast Sports Roundup runs about twice a month, with some parts repeated in the Southeast Empire. The feature is compiled by Juneau Empire sports reporter Charles Bingham from area newspapers and tips from local residents. If readers have a news tip for the Southeast Sports Roundup, they can e-mail it to news1@alaska.net or fax the information to 1-907-586-3028 (attention sports).